[Protein]

There is an article in the Telegraph (UK) which suggest the use of mobile phones and masts is the reason for the decline in bees...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7778401/Mobile-phones-responsible-for-disappearance-of-honey-bee.html

.. it will be interesting if they conduct further research into this...

Me

[Sive]

I thought this had been suggested and discounted a while ago......it's really hard to know what to believe, there are so many theories. Now the scientists are saying bees are declining for a combination of reasons....probably scientific language for " we don't have a clue".....!

[Protein]

[Protein]

Here is another bee decline related article in today's Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/22/chemicals-bees-decline-major-study

[Sive]

I saw that today OK. But I'm getting to the point where I nearly no longer want to read the news.....there is no end to the greed and stupidity that is destroying our planet.....as if it's ours to destroy. Time for the planet to start fighting back.

[PeterEnglish]

Interesting one. I'm only an amateur scientist, but mobile phones use microwave frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, and the biggest microwave source on this planet is the sun. I imagine, that as bees rely on the sun to navigate and communicate directions with their amazing wiggle dances, placing a localised source of microwave radiation near the hive might be the bee-equivalent of placing a magnet near a compas. Interference from background radiation from mobile phones a distance away (and telecom satellites which orbit several hundred kilometres up) ought to be negligible.

I read the Guardian article about the "Insect Pollinators Initiative" and await their results with skepticism. Right now, my garden is buzzing, but I put it down to the honeysuckle up the kichen wall, the foxgloves in my kids' wildflower bed behind the shed, and my unadulterated beans and peas which are flowering madly.

I wish someone would pay me £10million to tell them how to encourage bees!

[Protein]

[PeterEnglish]

How on earth is that video going to cheer Sive up?

Personally, Sive, I'd recommend this really good gardening video about how to buy things in a DIY store:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ

[breezyacre]

am thinking of getting into beekeeping as my garden is also alive with bees particularly the herbaceous border and the raspberries. Any of you initiated or have any source of information. I have read the information on the irish beekeepers' website. Also I wonder why it is the wild bees that are declining particularly while managed bees seem to be surviving.

[PeterEnglish]

I had dozens of honey bees on my raspberries last month too, but now I'm mostly seeing the big furry bumbles.

There's some good information on honey bee decline at:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/bees/research_en.htm

From all their reports, they suggest that, "the best hypothesis is that a particular virulent combination of parasites and pathogens may interact to produce lethal consequences to the colonies in an environmental context of chronic exposure to pesticides." A managed honey bee colony might be in better health thanks to a bee-keeper's care and attention to bee welfare and hygiene, whereas a wild honey bee colony has to go it alone, and might be more susceptible to the "habitat loss, fragmentation, pesticides, invasives and climate change" noted in the article.

Breezyacre, contact Louth beekeepers for information and help for beginners. They run courses in Dundalk:

http://www.louthbeekeepers.org/aboutus.htm

[Sive]

Thank you Protein and Peter......both Bjork and the two Ronnies cheered me up....different types of genius, but genius nonetheless.
Incidentally I have lots of bumblebees in my garden ( they always put a smile on my face too ! )...but I don't see any honey bees. ...but with mainly grazing and cereal crops around me, maybe the area is not too attractive to them...no idea how far honey bees forage from their hive.

[heno55]

hi sive
do you really want the planet to fight back, because if i was the planet looking at humans i would think that they were parasites to be destroyed at all costs.
even taking into account the few who try to do right.

[walltoall]

One of the biggest causes in the deterioration in honey bee stock (apart from the loss of bee-keepers) is the varroa mite. This tiny insect feeds off the bodily liquids of bees in the hive, especially in their larval stages. The mite has increasingly been carrying a damaging virus which is lethal to organised colonies. It can easily wipe out whole bee colonies and was first detected in the US in 1987 Britain in 1992 and ireland 1996. It is spreading all over the world.

The mobile phone story is an urban myth and bees being confused by microwaves is pushing credulity envelope right off the scale. When I was a kid people were advising to plug the holes in their [new] electric plugs to stop the electricity leaking out.

The honey bee pollinates about 90 of the 100 most important crops in England, from rape-seed through borage to lavendar and most of the other 10% of pollination is done by bumble bees.

[Sive]

hi heno, I'm afraid I have always thought the human race was the biggest mistake nature ever made ! And just because I happen to be a human being doesn't really change my mind ! If you believe the Gaia theory, the planet will restore the balance but it will mean huge areas of the world will become uninhabitable through famine and disease.....it's inevitable I'm afraid........oh and throw in war too, as water resources dwindle.
Not a pretty picture for our great/grandchildren.

[walltoall]

Hi Sive,
Is it a coincidence? I'm currently reading James Lovelock's 2005 edition of "Gaia" [medicine foir an ailing planet] as indeed I read the 1st edition back when? The varroa mite problem with bees is a fascinating one which one could write a whole book on 'cept I don't have the time. But Gaia is at work. The mite is relatively harmless to the honey bee. It lives off the juices of bee larvae and generally prefers drones! It is also parasitic on bumble bees as well as other pollinators but the moist overwintering conditions of the domesticated are so ideal it can't resist. The virus which is a parasite on the mite jumped species in the last century before mobile phones, hi-fi or t'internet. Meanwhile I've just spent the last hour eating every second goosegob offa my drip-fed gooseberry bush so that the rest of the berries get a chance to swell. So I'm a benevolent parasite to a single gooseberry bush in Essex.

LATER
Oh by the way I loved the bjork video from The Banner Protein (wifes icelandic) and Peter English had me peeing myself. I'm still learning estuary english so thanks for the cracking bit of divarsion you two.